Science Evidence Data and Digital Portfolio Annual Report 2024 - 2025

Marine Analytical Unit (MAU)

Headlines

• The MAU has played an important role in supporting evidence-led policy making throughout the Marine Directorate as well as the wider Scottish Government on marine- related matters, plus providing specialist statistical support and data to science colleagues in SEDD and beyond.
• This has crucially supported the evidence base with publications of the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023 and the Scottish Marine Economic Statistics 2022. While the MAU have led on a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment looking at the allocation of additional quota for fishing.
• Delivered the OSPAR 2025 CEMP Assessment of contaminants and their biological effects in the North Sea and the North East Atlantic. Continued development of the harmonised regional seas assessment tool (harsat) which is also being used by HELCOM and AMAP for their contaminant assessments in the Baltic and the Arctic.
• The MAU has helped contribute to the wider evidence base through publishing three research and evaluation reports. These include evaluations of the Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (see case study below) and Quota Management Groups, as well as a literature review of Marine Just Transition.
• Further, the MAU has reviewed 11 scoping reports and licence applications for offshore developments as well as 30 Marine Fund Scotland applications.
• Finally, the MAU has been an active participant in the wider research community, presenting at several conferences, such as Lyell Centre Fisheries Conference and Future Horizons, plus MAU colleagues taught engineering students at the IDCORE Summer School for 2 days about social research in offshore renewables.

Key Work in 2024 - 25

1. Produced the annual Scotland’s Marine Economic Statistics which sets out Official Statistics of the economic contribution of the marine economy. A number of impact assessments and analyses have been undertaken which help support the Blue Economy vision around environment, social, and economic. These include reviewing Socio-Economic Impact Assessments for offshore consenting, assessing Marine Fund Scotland applications, and a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment on additional quota allocation.

Contributes to:

Delivery of our Blue Economy vision.

2. We have undertaken several evaluations to support policy making and marine and freshwater management. These outputs include evaluations of the Quota Management Group and the Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups.

Contributes to:

Our marine and freshwater management, policies and plans are informed by science, evidence and advice.

3. Engagement with a number of organisations, both nationally and internationally, to both help guide research and analysis such as through Areas of Research Interest scoping, as well as engaging with ICES Working Groups on Social Research and on Economics.

Contributes to:

Co-creating a Scotland-wide delivery approach to marine and freshwater research that develops communities of practice, which harnesses our collective expertise across Scotland, nationally and internationally.

4. Creating and publishing Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics and Scotland’s Marine Economic Statistics to disseminate Official Statistics of relevance to the Scottish marine sector.

Contributes to:

Using our assets, such as fisheries datasets, to provide national value to Scotland across industry, the scientific community and in delivering a public service.

Case study: Fit for the future - evaluating inshore fisheries co- management

Inshore fishing is a part of the fabric of many coastal towns and villages around Scotland and co-management of this sector has long been the government’s approach. Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFGs) have existed in some form since 2009. RIFGs comprise local stakeholders and an independent Chair and are tasked with being the voice of fishers to government, and champion sustainable inshore fisheries through leading pilots and projects.

Marine Analytical Unit were tasked with understanding how fit for future RIFGs were. While there was strong anecdotal evidence that RIFG’s were effective, Marine Directorate needed further systematic analysis to help support decisions around their future. Therefore, Marine Analytical Unit were commissioned in 2024 to carry out an evaluation of the RIFG network.

A survey with 88 fishers and interviews with 64 fishers, fishers’ associations, current and previous RIFG Chairs, and other stakeholders formed the primary body of evidence gathered.

A key aspect of the evaluation was that Marine Analytical Unit analysts travelled around the Scottish coast to interview hard-to-reach inshore fishers. This required collaboration between the project team, the RIFG Chairs and coastal officers to locate fishers and arrange interviews.

The benefit of this approach was a deeper understanding of local issues that impact on the effectiveness of RIFGs. While this was primarily useful in completing the evaluation of the RIFGs, it also led the Marine Analytical Unit to add to its learning and insights from the inshore fishing sector.

The evaluation helped to better understand how well the remit of RIFGs was being delivered, the constraints of geographical coverage, what works well and does not work well in terms of organisational set up, as well as issues related to resources, membership, and leadership. The learning resulting from the project will be used by the policy team to refine inshore co- management. This was a truly collaborative project. Read more here: Supporting documents

- Regional Inshore Fisheries Group: evaluation - gov.scot.